SCI和EI收录∣中国化工学会会刊

Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering ›› 2023, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (2): 323-330.DOI: 10.1016/j.cjche.2022.04.003

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Large-scale computational screening of metal–organic frameworks for D2/H2 separation

Fei Wang1, Zhiyuan Bi2, Lifeng Ding3, Qingyuan Yang1   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China;
    2. College of Information Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China;
    3. Department of Chemistry, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou 215123, China
  • Received:2021-11-29 Revised:2022-03-27 Online:2023-05-11 Published:2023-02-28
  • Contact: Lifeng Ding,E-mail:Lifeng.Ding@xjtlu.edu.cn;Qingyuan Yang,E-mail:qyyang@mail.buct.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22078004) andthe Research Development Fund from Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (RDF-16-02-03 and RDF-15-01-23) and key program special fund (KSF-E-03).

Large-scale computational screening of metal–organic frameworks for D2/H2 separation

Fei Wang1, Zhiyuan Bi2, Lifeng Ding3, Qingyuan Yang1   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China;
    2. College of Information Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China;
    3. Department of Chemistry, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou 215123, China
  • 通讯作者: Lifeng Ding,E-mail:Lifeng.Ding@xjtlu.edu.cn;Qingyuan Yang,E-mail:qyyang@mail.buct.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22078004) andthe Research Development Fund from Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (RDF-16-02-03 and RDF-15-01-23) and key program special fund (KSF-E-03).

Abstract: Deuterium (D2) is one of the important fuel sources that power nuclear fusion reactors. The existing D2/H2 separation technologies that obtain high-purity D2 are cost-intensive. Recent research has shown that metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are of good potential for D2/H2 separation application. In this work, a high-throughput computational screening of 12020 computation-ready experimental MOFs is carried out to determine the best MOFs for hydrogen isotope separation application. Meanwhile, the detailed structure-performance correlation is systematically investigated with the aid of machine learning. The results indicate that the ideal D2/H2 adsorption selectivity calculated based on Henry coefficient is strongly correlated with the 1/ΔAD feature descriptor; that is, inverse of the adsorbility difference of the two adsorbates. Meanwhile, the machine learning (ML) results show that the prediction accuracy of all the four ML methods is significantly improved after the addition of this feature descriptor. In addition, the ML results based on extreme gradient boosting model also revealed that the 1/ΔAD descriptor has the highest relative importance compared to other commonly-used descriptors. To further explore the effect of hydrogen isotope separation in binary mixture, 1548 MOFs with ideal adsorption selectivity greater than 1.5 are simulated at equimolar conditions. The structure-performance relationship shows that high adsorption selectivity MOFs generally have smaller pore size (0.3–0.5 nm) and lower surface area. Among the top 200 performers, the materials mainly have the sql, pcu, cds, hxl, and ins topologies. Finally, three MOFs with high D2/H2 selectivity and good D2 uptake are identified as the best candidates, of all which had one-dimensional channel pore. The findings obtained in this work may be helpful for the identification of potentially promising candidates for hydrogen isotope separation.

Key words: Metal–organic frameworks, Computational screening, Hydrogen isotope separation

摘要: Deuterium (D2) is one of the important fuel sources that power nuclear fusion reactors. The existing D2/H2 separation technologies that obtain high-purity D2 are cost-intensive. Recent research has shown that metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are of good potential for D2/H2 separation application. In this work, a high-throughput computational screening of 12020 computation-ready experimental MOFs is carried out to determine the best MOFs for hydrogen isotope separation application. Meanwhile, the detailed structure-performance correlation is systematically investigated with the aid of machine learning. The results indicate that the ideal D2/H2 adsorption selectivity calculated based on Henry coefficient is strongly correlated with the 1/ΔAD feature descriptor; that is, inverse of the adsorbility difference of the two adsorbates. Meanwhile, the machine learning (ML) results show that the prediction accuracy of all the four ML methods is significantly improved after the addition of this feature descriptor. In addition, the ML results based on extreme gradient boosting model also revealed that the 1/ΔAD descriptor has the highest relative importance compared to other commonly-used descriptors. To further explore the effect of hydrogen isotope separation in binary mixture, 1548 MOFs with ideal adsorption selectivity greater than 1.5 are simulated at equimolar conditions. The structure-performance relationship shows that high adsorption selectivity MOFs generally have smaller pore size (0.3–0.5 nm) and lower surface area. Among the top 200 performers, the materials mainly have the sql, pcu, cds, hxl, and ins topologies. Finally, three MOFs with high D2/H2 selectivity and good D2 uptake are identified as the best candidates, of all which had one-dimensional channel pore. The findings obtained in this work may be helpful for the identification of potentially promising candidates for hydrogen isotope separation.

关键词: Metal–organic frameworks, Computational screening, Hydrogen isotope separation